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Carrot intake is consistently negatively associated with cancer incidence: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies

Lookup NU author(s): Charles Ojobor, Dr Gerry O'BrienORCiD, Dr Mario Siervo, Dr Kirsten BrandtORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Carrots are main dietary sources of several potential anti-cancer compounds, including polyacetylenes, while β-carotene has shown no benefits in controlled cancer trials. Accordingly, associations between carrot intake and cancer incidence were quantified, where necessary using α-carotene as a non-causal biomarker of carrot consumption, by searching for studies published before June 2022 reporting risk estimates for relationships of cancer incidence with carrot intake or α-carotene intake or α-carotene plasma concentration, supplemented with hand searches of included studies and reviews. Meta-analyses comparing highest and lowest reported intakes in prospective studies using a random-effects model estimated summary relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), separately for carrot intake or α-carotene plasma concentration, and the corresponding dose-responses. Of 198 observational studies, in 50 prospective studies with 52000 cases recording carrot intake, the cancer-risk was substantially reduced (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.87–0.94, p ˂ 0·00004). In 30 prospective studies with 9331 cases reporting plasma α-carotene levels, summary RR was 0.80 (0.72–0.89, p ˂ 0·00006). For both exposure types, inter-study heterogeneity was moderate, interaction with cancer types insignificant, and the dose-response significant (p ˂ 0·01). In conclusion, carrot consumption is robustly associated with decreased cancer-risk; carrot consumption should be encouraged, and the causal mechanisms further investigated.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Ojobor CC, O'Brien GM, Siervo M, Ogbonnaya C, Brandt K

Publication type: Review

Publication status: Published

Journal: Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

Year: 2025

Volume: 65

Issue: 5

Pages: 1009-1021

Online publication date: 17/12/2023

Acceptance date: 02/04/2018

ISSN (print): 1040-8398

ISSN (electronic): 1549-7852

Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2023.2287176

DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2023.2287176

Data Access Statement: The included studies are tabulated in the Supplementary Information (Tables S1–S6) as well as additional analyses, while the full datasets are deposited at Newcastle University’s data repository https://data.ncl.ac.uk/ with the DOI: 10.25405/data.ncl.21931533 (Ojobor et al. 2023).

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